Fr. Michael L. Pfleger

Pastor of St. Sabina’s on Chicago’s south side from 1981. Prominent anti-violence and social justice advocate. Pfleger adopted an 8-year-old boy in 1981, adopted a second boy in 1992, and became a foster father to a boy in 1997. He was suspended in 1/2021 due to an allegation that he sexually abused a boy over 40 years prior. The accuser’s brother soon also said the priest abused him as a boy. The brothers said the abuse occurred for years, starting when they were ages 12 and 13 in the 1970s and Pfleger was a seminarian and their choir director at Precious Blood parish. In 3/2021 a third man said Pfleger made an unwanted sexual advance toward him when the man was 18 in 1979. Pfleger “strongly denied” all accusations. Pfleger wrote to the Auburn Gresham community that he would “seek other ways…to minister” to them. In 3/2021 a Chicago Police detective reportedly said that a fourth person had come forward with allegations against Pfleger. In 6/2021 Pfleger was reinstated after the Review Board said in 5/2021 that  there was “insufficient reason to suspect…. Pfleger is guilty… .” He was again suspended in 10/2022 due to a new allegation of abuse of a boy in the late 1980s. Pfleger denied the allegation. In 12/2022 he was  reinstated after the Review Board “found no reason to suspect” that he was guilty. In 7/2026 an additional allegation surfaced; a woman reported that she was sexually abused by Pfleger when she was a St. Sabina grade school student some time during 1993-1995. Pfleger strongly denied the allegation. He was placed on leave during the investigation. Once again, in 8/2026, the Archdiocese found “no reason to believe Father Pfleger is guilty” and he was reinstated.